Date-plum

Lotus plum ( Diospyros lotus )

The Lotus plum ( Diospyros lotus ) is a species of the genus persimmon ( Diospyros ). It is native to eastern and western China and naturalized in the Mediterranean region since ancient times.

Description

The Lotus Plum is a deciduous tree that can reach heights of growth of up to 30 meters and trunk diameter of 1.3 meters in its native range. The bark is gray-black to gray- brown. The change-constant leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The leaf stems have a length of 0.7 to 1.5 cm. The simple, elliptic to ovate -oblong leaf blade is 5-13 cm long and 2.5 to 6 cm wide. There are present on each side of the main nerve seven to ten page nerves.

Diospyros lotus is dioecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( dioecious ). The male flowers sit on a maximum of 6 mm long pedicel individually or in pairs to third together in a zymösen inflorescence. They have four or five sepals. The reddish to pale yellow, urn-shaped crown is about 4 mm. The 16 stamens have very short stamens and 3 mm long anthers. The nearly sessile, solitary female flowers are pale green to reddish. They have four sepals, which are clearly visible on the ripe fruit. The four or rarely five petals are fused into an urn -shaped, about 6 mm long corolla. There are eight staminodes and a achtfächriger ovary with four pencils available. The round, yellow or purple berries have a diameter of 1-2 cm, are blue frosting and taste insipid. The seeds are brown, compressed about 10 mm long and 6 mm wide. The flowers bloom from May to June and the fruits ripen in October and November.

System

The name Diospyros lotus was first published in 1753 by Carolus Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, 2, pp. 1057-1058. There are two varieties:

• Diospyros lotus lotus var: Trees to 30 m in height, with flat leaves or only hairy leaf undersides. The variety grows in thickets on slopes and in gorges at altitudes from 500 to 2500 meters.
• Diospyros lotus var mollis imma: Trees to 13 m tall with dense shaggy hairy twigs and leaves. The variety grows at altitudes 1000-2500 meters in the provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi, Sichuan.

History

Pliny called different species of plants with names Lotus: three tree-like, two krautarige and a stalk-like Lotus. The Lotus Tree, either the Lotus Plum, the hackberry (Celtis australis L.) or the Lotus jujube ( Ziziphus lotus (L.) Lam. ) Could be meant, because all three species occur in Italy. From a kind of Pliny noticed that the wood was black and very sought for the manufacture of flutes. This speaks for the Lotus Plum, whose wood is dark as ebony.

Since the 17th century are known for Diospyros lotus various names, such as Lotus Tree, Lotus Boom, Lotus arbor.

Swell

• Maba JR Forster & G. Forster: Diospyros, in the Flora of China, Volume 15, p 224: Diospyros lotus - Online. (Section Description, distribution and systematics, accessed in March 2010)
• Shahina A. Ghazanfar: Ebenaceae, in the Flora of Pakistan: Diospyros lotus - Online. (Section Description and systematics, accessed in March 2010)
• Dericks -Tan, Vollbrecht: " On the trail of wild fruits in Europe," Abadi - Verlag 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-021129-4, pp. 142-144
• Andreas Bärtels: " Encyclopedia of garden shrubs ," Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3198-6, p 256